New York Times Magazine, Jan. 3

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(posted Thursday, Dec. 31, 1998)

As always, the year's final issue--"The Lives They Lived"-- is devoted to the "old friends" who have died in the previous 12 months. The 40 profiles include the obvious choices--Frank Sinatra, Dr. Spock, Roy Rogers--but there are also stories about Otto Bettmann, who began his photo archive with two suitcases of photographs carted out of Nazi Germany; Martha Gellhorn, who covered wars from Spain in the 1930s to Patagonia in the 1980s; and the inventors of the Cuisinart, the La-Z-Boy, and bubble gum. All of the obits speak fondly of their subjects, save one: Former Alabama Gov. George Wallace is castigated for both his racism and his superficial renunciation of it. Wallace, the profile argues, claimed to have repudiated racism but used issues such as crime and welfare as veils for old-school segregationist politics. The most lives seem to have been lived by Eldridge Cleaver, who spent his years as a convicted criminal, a Muslim, a Black Panther, a presidential candidate, a Moonie, a Mormon, and a conservative Republican.

Weekly Standard, Jan. 4

(posted Tuesday, Dec. 29, 1998)

The cover editorial argues that the president's popular support should not prevent impeachment, because it is merely a "momentary delusion" achieved through "effective demagoguery." The framers of the Constitution, argues the Standard, intended impeachment as a way to remove an unworthy if popular leader. As for censure, it would be useless, "a gob of spit attached to the presidency's reputation by a craven legislature." ... A piece argues that fat attorneys' fees corrupt the multistate tobacco settlement, because plaintiff's lawyers will now a) bankroll the Democratic Party; b) fund their own political ambitions; and c) try to keep Big Tobacco profitable, so they can keep pocketing said fees for decades to come. ... The Standard advocates the establishment of a conservative arts weekly (suggested title: Alienation). It won't make a cent, but even "two years of heterodox culture coverage could galvanize the New York (and hence American) culture scene," which is full of dissatisfied souls seeking only "a place to speak and an institution to rally around."

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